Storage and dispenser rack

Abstract

A new storage and dispenser rack is provided for quasi-cylindrical containers such as bottles, wherein the ends of the containers are of different dimension but with a belly portion of the container being substantially of the same size and shape as the large end of the container. The rack is made of molded plastic parts that are constructed and designed to snap together. The rack includes a pair of upright panels that define a bay and provide thereon tiers of tracks, each for supporting one end of the quasi-cylindrical containers. A plurality of transverse spacer shafts that connect with the pair of panels operate to provide a free-standing structural grid for the rack. The spacer shafts are of an axial length selected for the size of the containers to be supported on the rack. An add-on track member is provided for support of quasi-cylindrical containers, with means provided on the underside of the track member arranged for snap-on connection with male snap-on members provided in female sockets provided on, and located intermediate the ends of, the transverse spacer shafts.

I claim: 
     
       1. In a storage and dispenser rack for use in food stores and the like, for storing generally elongated, filled, cylindrical containers, and for advancing said containers by rolling or sliding to a forward selection station where a consumer is free to select a forward container, whereupon the remaining containers located behind the selected container then automatically advance, by force of gravity, toward said selection station, said rack being formed by a plurality of molded upright panels, with adjacent spaced pairs of panels being interconnected by a plurality of elongated, spacer shafts whose respective ends are each constructed for axial, press-into and snap-together, fit with a complementary socket means molded integral with an upright panel, to provide a free-standing, structural grid, that provides at least one bay bounded by a pair of spaced upright panels, and at least one tier of longitudinal track pairs in each bay of the structural grid, wherein said tracks each incline downwardly from a raised track rear to a lowermost point adjacent a raised container stop that extends across the front of the track, with each track adapted to have an end edge of a container supported thereon and guided by an upright associate flange that is part of an upright panel and extends along the length of the track, with the spacing of said upright associate flanges, being slightly greater than the axial length of the container; the improvement of means for converting a bay of said free-standing structural grid to one upon which may be stored, and advanced, quasi-cylindrical containers such as capped bottles, where at least a central, belly, portion of each of the containers conforms with the shape and size of the cylindrical base of the container, and comprising in combination:   the spacer shafts having an effective length between a pair of upright panels, that is commensurate with the size of bottles to be stored in said bay of the rack so that at least one of said upright associate flanges on the pair of upright panels which bound the bay will function to provide guidance for one end of the bottles;   each spacer shaft having formed thereon, between the ends thereof, a transverse female-socket connector means that is bounded by a pair of spaced, oppositely facing, upright flanges provided integral with the spacer shaft, said female-socket connector means having located therein an elongated snap-onto male connector means that extends axially of the spacer shaft between said flanges of the female-socket connector means;   and an elongated, add-on, track member whose upper surface is substantially of the same operative length and support shape as provided by an associated track on an upright panel of the structural grid, for providing a similar surface support as provided on said grid and so as to provide, in the bay of the grid, spaced support tracks for the base end of the container and for the belly of the container, and said add-on track member providing, on the underside thereof, a plurality of snap-connector means constructed and arranged for cooperation with at least two of the said snap-onto male connector means provided on said elongated spacer shafts of the structural grid.   
     
     
       2. A construction as in claim 1 wherein the snap-connector means on the underside of the add-on track member include at least two spaced pairs of oppositely facing locking clips cantilevered from, and projecting below, the track member, with each clip of said clip pairs being of a transverse size, shape and dimension adapted to enter into a female-socket of one of the spacer shafts, the maximum transverse size of the portion of said cantilevered locking clip which is positioned to enter a female-socket being slightly less than the axial spacing between said two upright flanges on the spacer shaft; and each of the two oppositely facing cantilevered locking clips of each pair being shaped, on the surfaces facing each other, so as to provide on each clip a distal cam means and an adjacent seating recess located closer to said support surface of the track member than the cam means, said shapes being adapted to cooperate with the shape of the snap-onto male connector means to provide a secure snap-on connection between the add-on track member and said spacer shafts immediately therebelow.   
     
     
       3. A construction as in claim 1 wherein each upright panel is shaped to provide, adjacent to and below each longitudinal track thereon, the complementary socket means that are adapted to receive thereinto the ends of spacer shafts associated with said longitudinal track, said socket means associated with the longitudinal track being provided by a forward set of two laterally adjacent socket means that are located close to and below a forward end of the adjacent track, and a rearward set of two laterally adjacent socket means located close to and below the rearward end of the adjacent track; and said elongated add-on track member being provided, on the underside thereof, with four pairs of snap-connector means positioned along the length of the add-on track member at positions and spacings corresponding to the four locations of the socket means provided below each longitudinal track on the upright panel. 
     
     
       4. A construction as in claim 1 wherein the width of the support surface of the add-on track member is about twice the width of the associated adjacent longitudinal track provided on the upright panel. 
     
     
       5. A construction as in claim 1 wherein the add-on track member is an elongated body provided at both ends with an upturned stop. 
     
     
       6. A construction as in claim 5 wherein the upturned stops at the ends of the add-on track member are of mirror image facing each other. 
     
     
       7. A construction as in claim 5 wherein the elongated add-on track member and snap-connector means thereon are of mirror image construction relative to the mid-length point of the track member.